While Oregon moves to fund assisting suicide as part of its health
care rationing plan for the poor and the first news accounts of people
getting lethal prescriptions are being published, other states are
rejecting efforts to legalize the practice and moving to enact
protective legislation.

In Maine, an Oregon-style bill to legalize assisting suicide was
defeated by the House 99 to 42 on February 11 and by the Senate 25 to 5
on February 12. In New Hampshire, a similar bill was effectively
defeated for the session when the House Judiciary and Family Law
Committee voted 13 to 7 to refer it for interim study.

In Michigan, Jack Kevorkian continues his involvement in assisted
suicides. According to Reuters, Kevorkian has now admitted to
"helping" 80-100 people die, including those with disabilities
and those with mental illnesses (see story on page 4). However, in
December the Michigan Senate voted 28 to 7 for a law imposing permanent
criminal penalties on assisted suicide and House action on the bill is
expected soon. If it passes, Governor John Engler is expected to sign
the measure.

In Kansas legislation to provide for civil remedies to prevent
assisted suicide was approved by the House 111 to 13 on February 17.
Similar legislation was passed off March 11 in the Oklahoma Senate by a
vote of 47-0 and in the House, in addition to passage in the Virginia
House, 77 to 20, on February 17, and by the Virginia Senate, 34-6, on
March 11.

Meanwhile, in Oregon the Health Services Commission February 26
voted 10-1 to include physician-assisted suicide on the list of items
for which the state's Medicaid program pays, as part of a category
called "terminal illness, regardless of diagnosis," which is
ranked number 260 of 745 items. Under the Oregon rationing plan,
budgetary considerations determine how many of the 745 Categories of
medical treatment receive funding. The relatively high ranking of the
category including assisting suicide probably guarantees that it will
receive funding, while some categories of lifesaving medical treatment
ranked lower on the list will not. In some cases, therefore, Oregon will
pay for poor people to kill themselves, but not to keep themselves
alive.

According to a February 18 Portland Oregonian article, at least 10
people had formally requested lethal prescriptions, one of whom had
completed all the steps and received the drugs, although the individual
had not yet used the drugs to commit suicide. Some of those who applied
died naturally during the 15-day waiting period.

In November, federal Drug Enforcement Administrator Thomas
Constantine, in a letter to the chairmen of the Senate and House
Judiciary Committees, stated that prescribing federally controlled
substances, such as narcotics and other dangerous drugs, to assist a
suicide violates federal law and could result in suspending or revoking
a doctor's registration to dispense such federally controlled
substances. Shortly thereafter, however, Attorney General Janet Reno
publicly announced that she had not been consulted by Constantine, and
that his determination would be subject to Justice Department review and
possible reversal.

Subsequently, that internal review recommended that the DEA determination be overturned, but at press time Reno had not yet formally
acted to do so, while awaiting comments from the DEA and others on the
internal reviews report. Nevertheless, Oregon doctors willing to
practice euthanasia seem to have concluded that they are no longer at
risk of adverse DEA action, and are proceeding to implement the law.

By a margin of more than 2 to 1, Americans oppose the use of
federally controlled drugs for assisted suicide and euthanasia. In a
nationwide telephone poll conducted March 7-9, 1998 by Wirthlin
Worldwide, 511 Americans were asked this question with the following
results:

As you may or may not know, the use of narcotics and other
dangerous drugs is generally prohibited by federal law except
when a doctor prescribes them for a "legitimate medical
purpose." Should the federal law allow use of these federally
controlled drugs for the purpose of assisted suicide and
euthanasia?
29% YES
65% NO
6% DON'T KNOW/REFUSED

The margin of error was 4.3%, with a 95% confidence interval,
meaning that if every American had been asked the question, 95 out of
100 times the results would have been within 4.3% of those given by this
sample.

COPYRIGHT 1998 National Right to Life Committee, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.